The Nature of the Universe
Great Debate in 1998: Program

The Nature of the Universe Debate:
Cosmology Solved?

Peebles - Turner

Baird Auditorium
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History

1998 October 4; Debate Program 1 - 4:30 pm

Sponsors:
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
National Science Foundation
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Michigan Technological University
Universities Space Research Association

Welcome to the Nature of the Universe Debate in 1998

Speculation into the nature of the universe is as old as curiosity.
Several times in the past we humans were able to discern the
fundamentals of our surroundings. We figured out that we live
between vast oceans, that we live on a round Earth, that Earth
is one of several planets in our Solar System, that our Sun was
one of a Galaxy of billions, and that our Galaxy was one of many
similar galaxies that exist throughout the cosmos.
Well here we are again.

Within the past few decades we have learned that the matter
that we see composing heaven and Earth is small in abundance
compared to an unknown type of dark matter. Within the past
year the first possibly credible evidence that even this dark
matter is small compared to a new "dark energy" that pervades
the Universe, a "cosmological constant". Is "dark energy" real?
Is all the matter and energy now accounted for in the universe?
Have we now reached the end of the quest for the major
cosmological parameters: Hubble's Constant and Omega?
Is cosmology now solved?

In 1920 Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, two leading astronomers
of their day, debated their current understanding of the universe,
including whether our Galaxy was itself the whole Universe.
Today, Turner and Peebles, two leading astronomers of today,
debate our current understanding of the nature of the universe
in the same auditorium, located in one of the world's premier
museums of natural history. We are therefore pleased to welcome
you to the third in the series of the "Turn of the Millennium
Debates." Today's debate is held in honor of the late
David N. Schramm (1945 - 1997), a great scientist originally
involved in this debate, who helped define the frontier
connecting the very big and the very small, between
particle physics and cosmology. Everyone involved in today's
program knew him and admired him. These public programs are
intended to highlight important problems in astrophysics that
exist at the end of the second millennium. We sincerely hope
that you find today's debate enjoyable, educational,
and entertaining.

Owen Gingerich: Dr. Gingerich is a senior astronomer
at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and
Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science at
Harvard University. In 1992-1993, he chaired Harvard's History
of Science Department. He served as vice president of the American Philosophical Society as well as chairman of the US
National Committee of the International Astronomical Union.
He has co-authored leading models for the solar atmosphere,
was awarded the Polish government's "Order of Merit", and
an asteroid has been named in his honor.

Joseph I. Silk: Dr. Silk is a Professor of both
Physics and Astronomy at the University of California,
Berkeley. In 1968 he was awarded Harvard's Bowdoin Prize,
and in 1970 Harvard's Bok Prize. In 1972 he was awarded
an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and in 1975
a Guggenheim fellowship. He is a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and of the American Physical Society. In 1997 he was made an
honorary member of the French Physical Society.

Margaret J. Geller: Dr. Geller is Professor of
Astronomy at Harvard University and Senior Scientist
at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
In 1990 she received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her video
"Where the Galaxies Are" won a CINE Gold Eagle.
In 1996 she received the Klopsteg Award of the
American Association of Physics Teachers.

Michael S. Turner: Dr. Turner is the Bruce V.
and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor and
Chairman of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at The
University of Chicago. He is a Fellow and
Lilenfeld Prize winner of the American Physical
Society and in 1984 was awarded the Helen B. Warner Prize
of the American Astronomical Society. He has won the
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
and has held a One-Man Show at the
Center for Particle Astrophysics Art Gallery.

Phillip J. E. Peebles: Dr. Peebles is
Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University.
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the American Physical Society, the Royal Society,
and the Royal Society of Canada. In 1982 he won the
Heineman Prize of the American Astronomical Society,
in 1995 won the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific, and in 1998 the Gold Medal of the
Royal Astronomical Society.